Tag Archive for: plant

Russian forces have switched off some mobile networks and internet at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, IAEA says

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Russian police detain a protester in downtown Moscow on March 6.
Russian police detain a protester in downtown Moscow on March 6. (Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

At least 4,640 people were detained during protests in Russia on Sunday, OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group that tracks detentions in Russia, reports.

People have been detained in 147 cities, according to OVD-Info. Since the invasion, more than 13,000 people have been arrested in Russia in anti-war demonstrations, OVD-Info calculates.

CNN cannot independently verify these numbers.

Russian state news agency TASS cited the Russian Interior Ministry, which said it arrested 3,500 people “who took part in unauthorized public events” on Sunday. 

“The units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, ensured law and order in places where unauthorized public events were held in a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” Irina Volk, the official representative of the Russian Interior Ministry said, TASS reported.

Some of the cities where arrests were made included Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The detainees were “taken to the territorial police departments for investigation,” Volk said, adding “the issue of bringing them to justice is being decided.”

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Hack the Plant Episode 16: Cyber Challenges to Securing Our Electric System

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“Initially it was looking at specific types of attacks and thinking how those could be utilized against our systems, but then it became more sophisticated in thinking of how these attacks could be coordinated together by larger actors? ….  I think that regulation’s role is more to draw attention and provide you with a base minimum, and then from there, it’s the responsibility of those industries of those actors to step up and design the systems and implement true security.” – David Coher

How can our electrical grid system anticipate cybersecurity attacks? What is the nature of its vulnerability to attack, and what role can regulation play in securing our future?

In this episode, we hear from David Coher, leader of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Energy Contract Management team, which manages their long-term energy procurement contracts (approximately $4 billion, annually). David is an attorney, who moved from real estate litigation to SCE where he established programs for cybersecurity, participation in California’s Greenhouse Gas emissions Cap & Trade market, and Dodd-Frank compliance.

We discussed how the power grid works and the changing landscape of keeping our energy grids safe from cyber attacks. We also explored the challenges of establishing a regulatory compliance program – in particular how to anticipate cybersecurity threats.

What is next for SCE? What are some potential opportunities and threats on the horizon for the safety of our electric grid? Join us to learn more.

(Subscribe to Hack the Plant on Spotify or Apple, by RSS feed or search for it wherever you listen to podcasts.)

DISCLAIMER: “The opinions expressed by David Coher are his own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of Southern California Edison, its parent company Edison International, or any of their affiliates.”

TRANSCRIPT

Joshua Corman: 

Our dependence on connected technology is growing faster than our ability to secure it, especially in areas affecting public safety and human life.

Bryson Bort: 

I’m Bryson Bort. And this is Hack the Plant. Electricity, finance, transportation, our water supply. We take these critical…

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Hack the Plant Episode 12: ERCOT and the Texas Power Outage

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“All types of generation that are part of the ERCOT mix suffered or none of them were at full capacity. All types of generations suffered some sort of outage due to the weather….demand was exceeding the diminished supply. Power plants were tripping offline. There just was not enough supply to meet customer demand.”

Today on Hack the Plan[e]t,  Beth Garza, a senior fellow with the Energy & Environmental Policy Team at R St and former director of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, aka ERCOT explains the power outage that crippled the state of Texas back in February during a week of record-cold temperatures. Three severe winter storms and an electricity generation failure left almost 5 million without power, and gave rise to shortage of heat, food and water.

Over the course of her 35-year career in the electric utility industry,  Beth Garza has held a variety of leadership roles in generation and transmission planning, system operations, regulatory affairs and market design for both regulated and competitive entities.

In this episode, we discuss how ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers – and how the massive power failure happened.

What does this power outage suggest about the resilience of our critical infrastructure? Join us for an in-depth discussion.

(Subscribe to Hack the Plant on Spotify or Apple, by RSS feed or search for it wherever you listen to podcasts.)

Transcript:

Joshua Corman: 

Our dependence on connected technology is growing faster than our ability to secure it, especially in areas affecting public safety and human life.

Bryson Bort: 

I’m Bryson Bort. And this is Hack the Plant. Electricity, finance, transportation, our water supply. We take these critical infrastructure systems for granted, but they’re all becoming increasingly dependent on the internet to function. Every day I ask and look for answers to the questions. Does our connectivity leave us more vulnerable to attacks by our enemies? I’m a senior fellow at the R street Institute and the co-founder of the nonprofit ICS Village, educating people on critical infrastructure security with hands-on examples, not just nerd stuff. I…

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Meat plant closures spreading after cyberattack on JBS – Silicon Valley

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By Fabiana Batista, Michael Hirtzer and Elizabeth Elkin | Bloomberg

A cyberattack on JBS SA, the largest meat producer globally, has forced the shutdown of some of the world’s largest slaughterhouses, and there are signs that the closures are spreading.

JBS’s five biggest beef plants in the U.S. — which altogether handle 22,500 cattle a day — have halted processing following a weekend attack on the company’s computer networks, according to JBS posts on Facebook, labor unions and employees. Those outages alone have wiped out nearly a fifth of America’s production.

Slaughter operations across Australia were also down, according to a trade group. One of Canada’s largest beef plants was idled for a second day.

It’s unclear exactly how many plants have been affected by the attack globally as JBS has yet to release details that granular. The prospect of more extensive shutdowns around the world is already upending agricultural markets and raising concerns about food security as hackers increasingly target critical infrastructure. In the U.S., JBS accounts for about a quarter of all beef capacity and roughly a fifth of all pork capacity. Livestock futures slumped while pork prices rose.

The Brazilian meat giant shut its North American and Australian computer networks after an organized assault on Sunday on some of its servers, the company said by email. Without commenting on operations at its plants, JBS said the incident may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers.

“Retailers and beef processors are coming from a long weekend and need to catch up with orders,” Steiner Consulting Group said in its Daily Livestock Report. “If they suddenly get a call saying that product may not deliver tomorrow or this week, it will create very significant challenges in keeping plants in operation and the retail case stocked up.”

JBS closed meat processing facilities in Utah, Texas, Wisconsin and Nebraska and canceled shifts at plants in Iowa and Colorado on Tuesday, according to union officials and employees. Union Facebook posts also said some kill and fabrication shifts in the U.S. have also been canceled. Pork and chicken facilities across the nation are also…

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